lumber
gb/lˈʌmbɚ/ us/lˈʌmbɚ/
B1
English
~ 9000
Senses
0 senses
Noun
B1
entity
1
Wood cut into boards or planks
Wood that is cut into long pieces, like boards or planks, and used to build things.
Usage pattern:
[amount] of lumber for [project]
Common mistake:
Learners sometimes confuse 'lumber' with 'timber'. In American English, 'lumber' is the usual word for cut wood for building, while 'timber' is less common. In British English it is often the opposite: 'timber' is the normal word and 'lumber' may sound American or less common in this sense.
Synonyms
timber (In American English this is a close synonym; in British English, 'timber' is more common as the general word, and 'lumber' is less used in this sense.)
|
wood (More general and can refer to any wood; 'lumber' usually refers to cut wood ready for building.)
Antonyms
metal (A contrasting common building material that is not wood.)
|
concrete (Another common non-wood building material, opposed to lumber in construction contexts.)
Collocations
buy lumber
|stacked lumber
|treated lumber
|softwood lumber
|lumber yard
|lumber industry
Themes
construction
|materials
|business
|work
|housing
|core_vocabulary
Examples
- We bought enough lumber to build a small deck in the backyard.
- The price of lumber has gone up sharply this year.
- Stacks of lumber were drying in the yard behind the hardware store.
- The cabin was built from rough-cut local lumber.
- He measured the windows before ordering the lumber for the frames.
Learner examples
- They used cheap lumber to make the table.
- The store sells lumber and tools for building.
- We need more lumber to finish the house.
- The truck brought new lumber to the site.
- She cut the lumber into shorter pieces.
Verb
B2
action
2
Move in a slow, heavy way
To move slowly and heavily, not quickly or gracefully.
Usage pattern:
[someone/something] lumbers [adverb/preposition]
Common mistake:
Learners sometimes think 'lumber' means only 'to walk slowly', but it can also describe the movement of animals or vehicles, and it always suggests heaviness or clumsiness, not just slowness.
Synonyms
trudge (Emphasizes slow, tiring walking, often because of effort or difficulty; 'lumber' also suggests heaviness or clumsiness.)
|
plod (Similar slow, heavy movement, but can sound more neutral and less physically clumsy than 'lumber'.)
Antonyms
glide (Suggests smooth, light, graceful movement, the opposite of the heavy awkward motion in 'lumber'.)
|
sprint (Emphasizes very fast movement, contrasting with the slow pace of 'lumber'.)
Collocations
lumber along
|lumber past
|lumber toward
|lumber across the room
|lumber up the hill
Themes
movement
|description
|storytelling
|daily_life
|core_vocabulary
Examples
- The old bear lumbered out of the forest and across the road.
- He lumbered up the stairs, exhausted after the long day.
- A delivery truck lumbered past the small parked cars.
- She watched the players lumber back to the locker room after the tough game.
- The elephant lumbered slowly toward the watering hole.
Learner examples
- The big man lumbered across the room.
- The tired dog lumbered after its owner.
- The truck lumbered up the hill.
- The bear lumbered through the trees.
- The fat cat lumbered to its food bowl.
Verb
informal
B2
action
3
Burden someone with something unwanted
To make someone take something they do not want, usually work, a problem, or a responsibility.
Usage pattern:
to lumber [someone] with [something]
Common mistake:
Learners may use 'lumber' without 'with', for example *'They lumbered me a job'*. The usual pattern is 'lumber someone with something'. It is also mainly used in British English and in informal speech or writing.
Synonyms
saddle (someone) with (Very close in meaning; slightly more common in both AmE and BrE and usable in more formal contexts.)
|
burden (More formal and general; can describe emotional or financial weight, not just unwanted tasks.)
Antonyms
relieve (someone) of (Means to take away a duty or burden from someone, the opposite of giving it to them.)
|
share out (Suggests dividing work or responsibility fairly, not leaving one person stuck with it.)
Collocations
lumber someone with
|be lumbered with
|get lumbered with
|lumbered with the job
|lumbered with the bill
Themes
work
|daily life
|relationships
|core_vocabulary
Examples
- They tried to lumber me with all the paperwork just before the holidays.
- We got lumbered with looking after their kids while they went out for dinner.
- He was lumbered with organizing the whole event at the last minute.
- Don't lumber your assistant with tasks you should do yourself.
- She felt she had been unfairly lumbered with the blame.
Learner examples
- My boss lumbered me with extra work on Friday.
- We were lumbered with cleaning the whole house.
- He got lumbered with the bill for dinner.
- She was lumbered with taking care of the guests.
- They lumbered him with a boring job.
Noun
literary
C1
entity
4
Old furniture and household junk
Old furniture and things in a house that people do not want to use but have not thrown away.
Usage pattern:
[old] lumber in [a room/place]
Common mistake:
This sense is quite old-fashioned and mostly British; learners may wrongly think it means 'wood' in all cases. When it refers to old furniture and junk, the context is usually a house, attic, or storage room, sometimes in older or literary texts.
Synonyms
junk (Very common informal word for useless things; not limited to furniture or the home.)
|
clutter (Focuses on the messy collection of too many things; not always completely useless like 'lumber' can be.)
Antonyms
valuables (Refers to valuable or treasured items, the opposite of unwanted or useless household objects.)
|
necessities (Things that are needed and used, not stored away as unwanted.)
Collocations
old lumber
|bits of lumber
|piles of lumber
|stored as lumber
|lumber room
Themes
home
|objects
|daily_life
|housing
|core_vocabulary
Examples
- Most of the old chairs ended up as lumber in the attic.
- The spare room was full of forgotten lumber and broken toys.
- They cleared out years of lumber before selling the house.
- He turned a dusty corner of the cellar, piled high with lumber, into a workshop.
- The house had a small lumber room at the back, crammed with trunks and boxes.
Learner examples
- The attic was full of old lumber.
- They put the broken table with the lumber in the back room.
- We threw away a lot of lumber before we moved.
- The old house had a room for lumber.
- She cleaned the lumber out of the garage.
Grammar
Dictionary form
lumber
IPA
GB/lˈʌmbɚ/
US/lˈʌmbɚ/
Syllables & stress
lum - ber (2 syllables)
Stress on 1st syllable (lum)
Word forms
Noun
- Base: lumber
- Plural: lumber
Verb
- Base: lumber
- 3rd Person Singular: lumbers
- Present Participle: lumbering
- Past: lumbered
Word family
Forms
lumbers
verb
lumbering
verb
lumbered
verb
Core family
lumberjack
noun
Related words
lumberyard
noun
Expressions
be lumbered with
1/bˈi lˈʌmbɚd wˈɪθ/
fixed phrase
informal
Be stuck with something unwanted
To have an unwanted job, problem, or thing that you cannot easily get rid of.
Examples
- We were lumbered with a car that kept breaking down.
- She felt she was always the one who was lumbered with extra work.
- The town is lumbered with a huge debt after the failed project.
lumber along
1/lˈʌmbɚ əlˈɔŋ/
phrasal verb
Move forward slowly and heavily
To move forward in a slow, heavy, not graceful way.
Examples
- The old bus lumbered along the narrow country road.
- We watched the hippos lumber along the riverbank in the hot sun.
- Traffic lumbered along for miles after the accident.
lumber off
1/lˈʌmbɚ ˈɔf/
phrasal verb
Leave in a slow, heavy way
To go away, moving slowly and heavily.
Examples
- He muttered something under his breath and lumbered off toward the door.
- The bear lumbered off into the forest when it heard our voices.
- After the meeting, everyone just lumbered off to their own offices.
lumber room
1/lˈʌmbɚ ɹˈum/
fixed phrase
literary
Room for storing unused furniture
A room in a house where people keep old furniture and other things they do not use.
Examples
- The children were forbidden to play in the dusty lumber room at the top of the house.
- They cleared the lumber room and turned it into a small study.
- In old houses, the lumber room was often filled with broken chairs and trunks.
lumber someone with [something]
1/lˈʌmbɚ sˈʌmwˌʌn wˈɪθ sˈʌmθɪŋ/
fixed phrase
informal
Give someone an unwanted burden
To make a person take an unwanted job, problem, or thing.
Examples
- Don't lumber me with your problems just before I go on holiday.
- They lumbered the new employee with all the weekend shifts.
- Her brother lumbered her with looking after his dog for a month.
lumber up to
1/lˈʌmbɚ ˈʌp tə/
phrasal verb
Approach slowly and heavily
To move slowly and heavily toward someone or something.
Examples
- The large dog lumbered up to us, wagging its tail.
- He lumbered up to the counter and ordered a coffee.
- An old man lumbered up to the microphone to ask a question.